Audience are alongside drowned soldiers and grieving survivors

THE Makana Botanical Gardens were transformed into a site of mystical wonder on Tuesday evening when more than 50 people gathered to witness the Sabamnye noMendi live performance.

A loud female voice commanded the gates of the dimly lit Botanical Gardens to open for the audience, saying: “Bavulele bangene, lifikile ixesha siwunabise lomncimbi (Let them in, it’s time for us to deal with this matter).”

As the woman led the crowd through the paths of the garden, she shouted: “They know what it means to sink while they stand.

“They know what it means to sink while they carry dead things. The spirits are calling us. I welcome you to this place.”

Sabamnye noMendi loosely translate to “we are one with Mendi”.

The audience was taken on a journey through different times, spaces and recaptured moments of the tragedy of the men who lost their lives in the sinking of the SS Mendi 100 years ago.

They were first led to an emotional scene down at the garden pond – which represented the ocean waters of Europe – where four soldiers lying by the waterside realise that they are the only ones who survived to tell the tale.

With military boots scattered around them, one soldier gets up, searches for his father and says: “Uphi tata, kuyabanda apha (Dad where are you? It is cold here).”

The next scene plays out inside the incense-filled rooms of Ornee Cottage, where a soldier stands with tears streaming down his face.

“There was a big bang. The water was cold. It was five o’clock in the morning. No one came to help. I can still hear their cries. No one came to help,” he says against the background of the SS Mendi and echoes of sea waves that filled the room.

The audience sit on a crowded floor witnessing how the event altered the lives of those who dealt with the aftermath of the doomed ship.

Widows clad in black sit on the floor in a room lit with an oil lamp and share their pain with the audience, who become more than just spectators but part of the moment, singing along and clapping with them.

Sabamnye noMendi uses metaphorical and artistic interpretation to portray the painful history of the Mendi men.

It tells the story of those who died in the icy waters, those who lived to tell the tale, and the emotional impact on the families of the deceased.

Gcobani Qambela from Grahamstown said the play “humanised the story. We sometimes get lost in the numbers but forget that these were human beings with lives. What an incredible production!”

The play culminates at the open arena in the garden with multiple performances happening at once – songs and dances of defiance from the soldiers, cries from a woman representing the SS Mendi, and an old man from the villages where the soldiers originated.

The old man says: “Could we have sacrificed anything more?

“It was more than sinking. They were swallowed and swallowing.”

In silence, the cast all disappeard into the dark, creatively representing the lives of the men who became one with the SS Mendi.

Paul Adolphsen from the US said the play was “moving and intense”.

“I am thinking a lot about the idea of sacrifice and what it means now.

“I have no words to explain the play. What an overwhelming production,” he said.

● SABAMNYE Mandla Mbothwe, noMENDI, by Botanical Gardens.